Virtuenture

The Digital Adventures

Take China-Prologue

Prologue

When the Second World War ended in 1945, the 6th Marine Division, just coming from the Battle of Okinawa, was in Guam. This was the only Marine division that was formed and disbanded overseas and never set foot in the United States. The announcement of Japan’s surrender was a relief that finally the marines can go back to their families. However a new instruction and assignment was issued. They were going to China. What was this Presidential Unit Citation awardee going to do in China?

Among those in the division was Private Marine Harold Stephens who was happier to comply than to go home. As soon as the order was received, he started his preparations. The readiness and quick-thinking abilities of this marine helped him throughout the mission until he was eventually sent home in 1949 long after his marine division was disbanded and its mission was over. What happened between 1945 and 1949 was not just a story of the life of marine Harold Stephens, but what transpired during those times in China and the surrounding countries had become part of world history.

Let us join him as he relates his experiences about the Battle of Okinawa, their stormy navigation to China, the White Russians in China, the transition from the Chiang Kai-Shek to the Mao Tse Tung (Mao Zedong) regimes, how he survived an ambush that killed his superior and other members of his team, escaped a fully guarded island prison, postwar Russia, Japan and the US, as well as other events that eventually lead to the cold war in the following years.

Harold was a jolly guy. His sense of humor was always present despite being in difficult situations and later wrote them for his readers to enjoy.

Enjoy your virtuenture.

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